title: Staphylococcal bacteremia and endocarditis: state of the art.
abstract: The major clinical difficulties in bacteremic Staphylococcus aureus infections involve the following: (1) differentiation of infective endocarditis (IE) from non-IE staphylococcemias and (2) questions concerning optimum chemotherapy of deep-seated staphylococcemic infections. In this article, an algorithmic approach to the differentiation of S aureus IE from non-IE staphylococcemias will be developed, particularly in regard to specific clinical, echocardiographic, radioisotopic, and serological "markers" for recognizing patients as at "high risk" for underlying S aureus IE. Also, data will be presented relating to the controversies of monotherapy v combination chemotherapy in S aureus IE as well as in bacteremic S aureus infections caused by antibiotic-tolerant S aureus strains.
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003378:Counterimmunoelectrophoresis; D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D004452:Echocardiography; D004697:Endocarditis, Bacterial / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D005779:Immunodiffusion; D012306:Risk; D018805:Sepsis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology*; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014463:Ultrasonography
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents